Tully: With endorsement of Mourdock, Lugar shows he's a GOP loyalist

U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., swears in new recruits at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 20, 2012. Lugar recently announced he would not hit the campaign trail on behalf of the man who beat him in the May 8 primary, state Treasurer Richard Mourdock.

To me and probably to most other political watchers, there wasn't much news in the announcement by Sen. Richard Lugar that he would not hit the campaign trail on behalf of the man who beat him in the May 8 primary, state Treasurer Richard Mourdock.

Nope, the big news would have been if Lugar had announced that he would stump for his fellow Republican, a man who views politics through a much different -- and a much more destructive -- lens than Lugar.

Can you imagine Lugar campaigning in Gas City or Greenwood for a candidate who has called for more divisive partisanship in Washington, as Mourdock has? Can you picture Lugar, the ultimate big-picture statesman, rallying voters on behalf of a politician who has said his top chore as senator would be to travel the country helping Republicans get elected -- as opposed to working on crucial national and international issues on Capitol Hill?

No, Lugar will not campaign for Mourdock. It would have been silly for Lugar to say anything different during his appearance Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation."

Given Lugar's clear distaste for Mourdock's brand of partisan politics, and the still gaping wounds from the primary, there were whispers that Lugar might go further and endorse the Democratic nominee in the race: Joe Donnelly, a moderate and bipartisan-minded congressman from South Bend. But there was no chance of that. Despite what his overheated critics say, Lugar is a loyal Republican. He wants his party to win control of the Senate this year, and keeping his Senate seat in GOP hands is a crucial step toward that goal.

"He is an institutional man," Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, noted this week. "If he went any further in his statements about Mourdock, he would be sticking a knife in the back of a lot of Republican friends in the Senate. This is as far as he could possibly go."

But, Sabato said, this is still going pretty far. Appearing on national TV and declaring that he would not campaign for his party's Senate nominee was certain to attract attention and inspire anger among some partisans. On Facebook, Lugar's critics tossed around words such as "traitor" and "arrogant." That was despite the fact that few losing primary candidates spend much time helping the people who beat them.

"A lot of people would just grit their teeth, smile and find a way not to really answer the question," Sabato said. "It was surprising that he was willing to say what he said."

Sabato and his team at the University of Virginia huddled to come up with similar examples from previous elections. There aren't many. But in Delaware in 2010, Rep. Mike Castle refused to endorse Christine O'Donnell, the Republican who beat him in the primary, and she ultimately lost her general election campaign. Lugar has endorsed Mourdock, saying that although his former opponent does not look at politics the right way, he nonetheless wants his party in control of the Senate.

In a way, there have been two Lugars since primary day: One is playing the role of party loyalist, and the other is taking shots at his rival. Remember, Lugar delivered a standard concession speech on election night but later released a letter condemning Mourdock. And while he has endorsed Mourdock, Lugar has made clear that his endorsement won't come with any other support.

The wounds from his primary loss won't heal for some time. But Lugar's actions can be attributed to something else: He doesn't think Mourdock would be a good senator.

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Tully: With endorsement of Mourdock, Lugar shows he's a GOP loyalist

To me and probably to most other political watchers, there wasn't much news in the announcement by Sen. Richard Lugar that he would not hit the campaign trail on behalf of the man who beat him in the